reviewED

Hi Loves! F & J here!

In our last blog we talked about going to Ed Sheeran's concert last Thursday. We promised an update, but it took us awhile to recover and we wanted to make sure we found enough time to write a raw review about it and not be rushed. 

Our Ed experience started before Thursday even hit! We were planning an early morning because it was general admission, but we didn't know just how early we'd be there! Right before going to bed, which might we add was way later than we should have, F saw a tweet that changed the whole game plan. She called J to let her know people were already lining up. J thought it was a joke at first, unfortunately it was not. 

Since we paid a lot for these tickets we wanted to make sure we got the best experience we could and that meant being one of the first groups in line to assure a good spot at the show. (Plus, you all know how much we love him!) So we just decided to get there at 6:30 AM which meant a 4 AM alarm to make sure we looked our best. 

When we arrived the line wasn't too bad, thankfully, and we did the math and were in the first 1% to arrive. We got to know the people around us which made time pass faster. But let's be honest, 12+ hours of waiting never goes by fast. We did get the chance to leave line and go for a little walk, it wasn't long enough but we enjoyed it. 

We finally got lead into the arena and were asked to sit on the floor and wait. We were in the center of the second row, and the boy in front of us stood up to stretch and he happened to be a ginger, and people started rushing to the front of the stage. It was a terrifying experience having that many people run towards you at that speed and forcefully pushing their way to the front. It was something we never want to experience again. And it was all a bit painful and there was still an hour of wait time!  

Then the heat came. That many bodies that close together just leaves you feeling suffocated. This is something we expected but then the unthinkable started to happen. The man next to us decided he wanted our spot and would do anything to get it. He pushed and kicked and slammed his body against us forcing us to fall back into people who in turn pushed us back just as hard and it was a horrible domino effect. He didn't give up even when he got the spot. It was almost like his goal was to ruin our show experience. He even got into a spat with the security guard who came to check on us. 

By the time Ed got on stage we were having anxiety/panic attacks from the lack of air, space, food and drink we had (since we were in line we didn't get a chance to eat and drink water). Also, the physical pain he was putting us in. We politely asked him to stop, consistently, and then he would look us in the eyes and push us harder. It was eye opening to see how mean someone could be in order to get what they wanted. After 9 songs, we could not take it anymore even though we wanted to enjoy our show. We knew it would be a little cooler in the back so made our way out of the mosh pit. We enjoyed the rest of the show from the back, feeling much better. 

Now, everything else aside, we can't take away from the amazing-ness that Ed is. His performance was breathtakingly wonderful. His energy on stage was contagious and he was definitely born to be a performer. He did a great job connecting with the audience and left us with an unforgettable memory. His talent is definitely real, it's not something you can fake. (Don't even get us started on his use of the pedal!). We can  guarantee you we will be seeing him again. Hopefully not general admission! If you want to see the set list click here.

Love,

F & J

It's all about Ed

Hey Loves! F & J here!

It feels like it's been forever since we posted, but life has been so busy! But we are so looking forward to next week because GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?!?!

WE ARE GOING TO SEE ONE OF OUR FAVORITE ARTISTS OF ALL TIME . . . ED SHEERAN

Did you get that? ED SHEERAN . . . If you've been reading our blog you would know we are big fans! He is literally a musical genius. If you haven't listened to his stuff... what are you doing? GO NOW! It could legitimately change your life!

If we listed our favorite Ed songs, then you would end up listening to all of his songs. Seriously though... musical genius. 

If you want a more upbeat song there is Runaway and Little Bird. Or if you want a more powerful song Give Me Love and Even My Dad Does Sometimes. Or if you want a love song. (now let us just tell you this is a hard decision to make because there is so many. He knows exactly what to say. WARNING! You may fall in love) Thinking Out Loud and Tenerife Sea and Kiss Me and Wake Me Up and All the Stars. We'll stop here, but we told you! And sad but beautiful Autumn Leaves and Afire Love (it's about his grandpa who passed away from Alzheimer's). And if you want a sweet love song that's not even released New York. The video is a live version because there is no studio version out there. Get to it Ed! 

Sorry if we over did it, but it was so hard to narrow it down to just this. It would have been easier to just give you the album links! 

We get to see him next Thursday, which feels like a life time away because we are so excited. We can tell you about it afterwords. We've never seen him live but we know it will be a show we will never forget!

Love,

F & J 

Jammin' in the Kitchen

Hey Loves! F & J here!

Summer in the North West is prime time for picking berries. As you may have seen, we have done our fair share already. That doesn't mean we didn't go pick even more to make some Blackberry Jam! We do love blackberries by themselves but we ate ourselves silly and had to find another way to use the berries so they wouldn't go bad, and hopefully last longer! 

J's mom makes homemade jam every year, so we knew it wouldn't be too hard to make and if anything went wrong we could ask her! Thankfully we didn't need too! 

To make Jam or Jelly you need to buy Sure Jell, so we used the recipe that comes in the box. But of course, they have it online too, you can find it here! The site has recipes for different kinds of jams too (if blackberries don't tickle your fancy)

We  bought our mason jars at Michael's (an arts and craft store). It came as a set of 12 mason jars for $15.99 and we used a 40% off coupon, that they have almost all the time and only paid around $10. You can also find it at Fred Meyer's for $10 for 12. 

We decided to make our jam seedless, so after blending the berries, we spent a long time squishing them through a strainer. We followed the directions closely (we didn't want our berries to go to waste!). Once we finished and put the jam in the jars we had to leave it sitting out for a day. Now we are storing it in our freezer's for later. Of course we had to try it first! And we are so happy to say that it was DELICIOUS! It was a lot of work but well worth it. We will be enjoying our jam for quite awhile!

Because it worked so well, we will try it on other berries later. In the grand scheme of things it didn't take too long, and the time passes pretty fast when you're dancing to music. If any of you make it yourselves let us know! 

Love,

F & J